Ezra 1: God moves mountains and hearts

We sing and we proclaim that God can move mountains but here in the opening of the book of Ezra we read that God moved the heart of Cyrus to free the Israelites and send them with his blessing back to Judah. We don’t know how this came about, that is through a dream or a vision, but Cyrus wrote out what he was to do by God’s command. “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord motivated King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing.” Did you notice that? The God of the universe raised up Cyrus to bring about the prophecy of Jeremiah. Daniel had written that God raises up and puts down leaders and here we see that God raised up Cyrus to do His bidding. Why do we wring our hands and wail and weep when we read stories like this? If God can move the heart of the man Cyrus, can He not move the hearts of those in power today? 

When you read of passages such as this, it should behoove us to stop and praise Him who is immutable, is all powerful and sovereign.